E-Paper
Assam gas well fire likely to be doused this week, technical glitches delayed ops: OIL
On June 9, the well caught fire killing two firefighters and displaced thousands of residents from nearby areas. Since then, the fire continues to blaze with OIL authorities unable to plug it.
The fire at an Oil India Limited’s (OIL) natural gas well in Assam’s Tinsukia district – that began to blaze two months ago - is likely to be plugged this week, a company spokesperson said on Monday.
The natural gas well located at Baghjan in Tinsukia district witnessed a blow out - an uncontrolled release of gas or oil - during a work over operation to locate a new gas reservoir on May 27.
On June 9, the well caught fire killing two firefighters and displaced thousands of residents from nearby areas. Since then, the fire continues to blaze with OIL authorities unable to plug it.
Initially, OIL had said it would take a month to complete the task. Later the deadline was extended to July 7. But floods, which affected work for several days, and technical issues are adding to the delay while thousands of affected residents continue to reside in relief camps.
“While all other logistical requirements have been completed, two jobs i.e. capping the well and killing it, remain. To cap the well, we need to install the blow out preventer (BOP) on top of the wellhead,” said Tridiv Hazarika, OIL spokesperson.
The wellhead has a mechanical device called spool which is a fitting placed on BOP stack. It was while removing one such damaged spool on July 22 three foreign experts engaged by OIL sustained burn injuries. After the incident OIL had stated that work on plugging the well would be over within the next 2-3 days.
“But while inspecting the second spool which was not damaged it was found that some studs, similar to nuts and bolts, were damaged. Without preparing the spool, removing the damaged studs and installing new studs, the BOP, which weighs around 3 tons, can’t be installed,” said Hazarika.
Experts at the site spent considerable time in removing the damaged studs and new studs had to be fabricated at OIL’s Duliajan workshop.
On Monday, an OIL statement informed that new studs have been transferred to the site to replace the damaged and deformed ones.
“It is a precise operation and it needs to be done correctly as the spool will carry the weight of the BOP. If there is even the slightest fault, it will lead to severe problems. Hence, these tasks were done with extreme caution and they delayed our operation further,” said Hazarika.
Once the BOP is installed, the process of killing the well would start. It would be done by injecting a ‘kill fluid’, a sludge-like specially prepared mud, into the well slowly to push the gas from the well back to the reservoir.
“The length of the well is 3.5 km. So it could take around 36-40 hours to fill the well with sludge and kill the well. Once the BOP is in place within the next two days, the killing operation would begin and the entire exercise should be over by July 30,” he said.
Since the Baghjan well is located close to Dibru Saikhowa National Park and the ecologically sensitive Maguri Motapung Wetland, there were fears of environmental damage to the area due to the blow out and fire. Several studies by different agencies are underway to measure the extent of damage.
Last month, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) ordered formation of an expert committee to probe the blow out and subsequent fire and assess the damage caused to human life, wildlife and environment because of it.
EOM
